"As bad as the headline was, there wasn't much below the surface to make it better"
- Robert Kavcic, senior economist at Bank of Montreal
Canada's economy, which returned to growth in the first month of 2013, posted mixed data on Friday, a sign the recovery may not be sustainable. Canada's labour market pulled back dramatically last month, shedding the most positions in four years, pushing the unemployment rate up to 7.2% from 7.0% in February. During the same period, the economy has lost 54,500 jobs, compared with the 6,500 job gain predicted by analysts.
"As bad as the headline was, there wasn't much below the surface to make it better," Robert Kavcic, senior economist at Bank of Montreal, said by telephone from Toronto. "We were pretty suspicious with what we had seen in the last four months," he said, referring to improvements in the job market.
Also Friday, the Richard Ivey School of Business said that nation's purchasing managers' index surged to the highest in seven months, exceeding economist projections. A gauge of manufacturing activity to 61.6 on a seasonally adjusted basis, the highest since August, compared with 51.1 in February, and reflecting that the sector is expanding rapidly. Adding to the gloom were the trade figures for February, which showed Canada's deficit jumped to $1.02 billion due to lower exports and higher imports.
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